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Dance

A research pathway for students and faculty

Searching for Reviews

Some tips on getting started:

The best resources for finding reviews of dance performances and pieces will be in newspapers, dance journals and magazines, and websites devoted to dance.

Start with time and location – the where and when regarding the performance you are searching for can really shape your strategy and the way you search.

Some good questions to start with:

  • Do I need a review from a particular city’s newspaper or publications?
  • Do I need a specific journal or magazine?
  • Do I need reviews for a contemporary or historic performance?

If you don’t know the city the performance took place in or would look at a wide variety of reviews both for contemporary and historical performances, the databases listed further down on this page are good places to start, or you can head to our LibrarySearch and peruse our catalog.

If you don’t know what newspaper or journal that you need, use the JournalSearch to narrow down your results.

You can start your search with whatever information you know about the performance:

  • Title of the piece or work
  • Dance company, choreographer, performer
  • Music used in the performance, composer
  • Critic’s name

Use quotation marks and use AND between each term you are searching (for example: “Revelations” AND “Alvin Ailey”)

The quotation marks allow  you to search for a phrase or title in the exact order you specified
Using AND limits the results to articles containing both phrases

You can also include the search term ‘review’ in your search, as that will help narrow down your results  

Limiters can help you narrow down your results even more in your catalog or database searches. Some tools that can help you may be

  • Advanced search in your catalog or in the main database search bar
  • Along the left side of the screen in facets after you have done your initial search

You can select these facets and limit your results further based on

  • Time period or year
  • Newspaper or publication
  • Length or duration of the piece
  • Number of performers
  • Subject
  • Item type – ‘review’

A great place to start are some places listed below.

Digital Resources for Contemporary Reviews

Digital Resources for Historical Reviews

Dance Magazines and Journals Held by the Library

The library also has several dance magazines and journals located on the 2nd as well as 3rf floor that contain reviews as well as information on performances. All new copies from the past year are available in the 1st floor lobby.

Dance: 2nd Floor Reference Studies in Dance History Dance Europe
Dance: 3rd Floor Stacks The New Dance Review Dance Research
Dance Magazine Dance World The American Dancer
Dance Theatre Journal Dance Spirit Dance News Annual